Danger of ‘Groupthink’ increases for organisations without bias training, report finds

Recent findings on discrimination in American hiring practices have highlighted the dangers of ‘groupthink’ occurring in recruitment processes when hiring managers don’t complete unconscious bias training.

The study of 400 US hiring managers found that for managers who have completed training within the last two years, over half (52%) can detect bias or unconscious bias in their hiring decisions. Yet only 1 in 5 (22%) who haven’t undertaken training can do the same, heightening the chances for groupthink to permeate their organisations.

Gareth Jones, CEO of Headstart, a diversity platform that helps firms hire graduates and apprentices fairly, said: “Groupthink is a process that occurs when teams lacking in diversity make group decisions that prioritise consensus over individuality. A team that can’t recognise bias in their practices is more likely to hire individuals with similar interests, experiences, and backgrounds as they may not understand the benefits of hiring different candidates with new viewpoints and perspectives. They may hire for “value-fit” rather than “value-add” which reduces the chances for innovation.”

The report found that when hiring managers recognised their biases, the top factors motivating it included ‘age’ (15%), ‘ethnicity' (11%), ‘disability’ (9%), ‘income level and socioeconomic background’ (8%), ‘sexual orientation’ (4%) and ‘religion’ (3%). ‘A different reason’ was cited by 11% of respondents.

The findings also show that bias training not only improves the ability of hiring managers to recognise bias in their practices, but also increases the likelihood of them perceiving bias as a problem.

For those who have completed training in the last two years, over three-fifths (66%) feel bias or discrimination is an issue in their organisation. Contrastingly, over three-fifths (64%) of hiring managers who haven’t received unconscious bias training don’t feel these are issues at all.

Alarmingly too, over 4 in ten hiring managers (42%) haven’t completed any unconscious bias training, heightening the risk for unchecked discrimination and for groupthink to pervade a company’s culture.

Gareth Jones added:

“It’s clear that unconscious bias training dramatically improves the awareness of hiring managers to see bias in their own processes as well as problems that accompany it. Organisations must take this seriously - not only to improve diversity in their teams but to promote diversity of thought and create a forward-looking workforce”.

Headstart’s survey, Discrimination in American Hiring, can be found here.